The services you likely use every day, from Netflix to Amazon, depend on something called a CDN, or Content Distribution Network (sometimes “delivery”). So what are these private computer networks, and why are they so important?
The internet is a real place
It’s easy to think of web content like Netflix Steam loops or your Google Drive files “outside” in the cloud. However, every piece of data must live somewhere on a physical storage device, inside a networked computer.
If you try to access a website on the other side of the planet, it will take much longer for more than one website hosted in your city or country to load. The more data packets have to travel, the more likely they are to get throttled as they pass through the thread or may simply get lost. In this case, it must be sent again.
Internet engineering nuts and bolts aside, the important point to keep in mind is that the closer you are to actually hosting the content, the better your experience will be.
How do CDNs work?
CDNs include a group of servers spread across a region. It can be global or local, as long as it actually covers the areas from which users are most likely to request content. The content provider will upload the content to its server and then automatically propagate this data to other nodes on the CDN. CDN servers are usually connected to each other by basic fast internet connections, so it only takes a few seconds to transfer huge amounts of data between them.
CDNs are smart and efficient as well. Let’s say you’re the first person in your area to order a specific file from a website. If the file has not yet been copied to the nearest CDN node, it will be copied there from the next node containing the data.
The local node will then keep the copy in case other local users also want this file. If after a specified period of time no one wants the file, it may be deleted until someone wants it again. This way long distance bandwidth is used only once, after which only local bandwidth is used. This is faster and cheaper, so both the host and the user get a good deal.
CDN Benefits for Business
CDNs do more than just give users a good experience. They can save content providers money by preventing excessive use of expensive international bandwidth. CDNs can also accommodate large numbers of users, distributing the load across the network to ensure that no service is denied. This also means that CDNs provide protection against intentional Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
In addition, CDNs provide a way to limit content to the regions in which the content is licensed. It’s as easy as limiting locally hosted content to what is licensed for that region.
Using a VPN beats CDNs, for better or worse
CDNs can go down from time to time, just like any web server. Normally, users will be automatically redirected to the next closest content delivery network. If it doesn’t, you might get an error stating that the service is offline when that’s really the problem with the specific CDN node.
In this case, you can use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to make it look like you are in a different area. This can be a quick fix for local CDN issues, albeit with successful performance.
Unfortunately, when you use a VPN to get around geo-content blocking, you will lose the benefits of a fast local CDN node. You now get your content from a remote node, which is then fed through an encrypted VPN tunnel. While many premium VPN services can still offer good bandwidth and latency to use, the quality of service often deteriorates significantly.
Can anyone use a CDN?
It’s not just big companies that build their own server networks that can take advantage of CDN technology. Most CDNs belong to specialized companies that provide hosting services and include CDN services as part of the hosting fee. Websites like Wix.com have it their CDN solution, So if you build a website using this service, a CDN ensures that people all over the world get fast loading times and overall response.
Individual users can take advantage of CDN technology using products from companies that rely on them, but if you are a business user, you can contact CDN providers directly as well. If you want to build your own CDN, this is complicated but not impossible. However, it is about more than just buying server hardware. You need a CDN software solution and servers must be installed in key locations (such as backbone data centers) to make it fully functional. Dedicated CDNs are best left to the professionals.
Related: How to set up your website the easy way
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